


creators.

by emeraldsprite



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Gen, but can be viewed as romantic, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 22:32:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19049785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldsprite/pseuds/emeraldsprite
Summary: Mantis and Rocket have a chat.





	creators.

Rocket was thrown to the floor as he choked on nothing, coughing up blood. A snide smirk was plastered against the man’s face as he sauntered forwards. 

“How ironic. The bounty becoming the hunter. Seems the tables have turned, ey?” Fucking hell. ‘He might as well just kill me and be done with it,’ Rocket thought bitterly. 

“Alright ass-wipe. N-no need for monologue here, it makes you look stupid.”” Rocket coughed some more, before trying his best to get up. Why didn’t his legs work when he needed them to? Stupid trembling paws.

His body ached all over and he barely had the energy to stand up. He shouldn’t have gone to the bar alone. Every time he was alone at the bar, bad shit always happened. 

The towering man draped in black scruffy clothing hovered before the shaking raccoon and grinned. Feeling degraded, Rocket tried to stand up, but the man kicked Rocket in the chest and he was back at the start, face crashing into the cobblestone floor. 

Blood trickled down his snout, staining his fur and for once Rocket wished he would have listened to Quill and stayed guarding the ship with Mantis, Groot and Drax while Quill and Gamora went out to replenish food and water. 

Too late for regrets now, but still Rocket found himself wishing with all his heart that he would hear the faint noise of the Terran music Rocket had grown to love and the face of that d’asted idiot blasting his laser guns.

Where was Quill when he could actually be useful for once? 

“For such a small, furry thing, you wouldn’t expect such a large bounty pinned on it. But hey, I’m not going to complain.” 

It. 

“Who d’ya think ya fooling with that big-ass gun of yours? Actually, what even are you? An experiment gone wrong?” 

Rocket was starting to hate this guy more and more as the clock ticked. 

What he hated more was that Rocket was starting to believe the man was right. 

Rocket reached for his gun, but with a kick the man in black took his only chance of escape away from him. The man looked down at him, tilting his head. 

“Hmm? Are you?” The man knelt down to Rocket’s level and smiled. If Rocket weren’t bleeding to death the man would’ve almost seemed harmless, but right now, Rocket was looking at anything but him. 

Sensing he wouldn’t get a reply, the man scoffed and stood back up. “Aight, enough chitter chatter. I’ve been told to keep you alive. But I’m not one for following the rules. I’ll bring your dead body in, get a whole lotta money, and maybe I’ll get the other Guardians too. Time to sleep.” 

The man drew out a syringe with god knows what liquid inside and Rocket’s eyes widened. A syringe. Syringes were never good news in his book. Long, cold needles that always hurt when the liquids were plunged into his body, testing out what worked and what didn’t; what made him stronger and what made him weak, sick to his stomach. 

“Don’t worry. It won’t hurt too much,” the man laughed maniacally, and something told him it would hurt. A lot. 

Rocket tried to shuffle back but he was already pressing against the wall. Rocket had remembered being tied to tables, trying to resist as people in coats stuck needles through his back; piercing through every bit of skin until fur couldn’t grow at all. 

And just when Rocket shut his eyes as tightly as he could, trying to prepare himself for the pain—

“Sleep.” 

The man suddenly went crashing to the ground, and Mantis’ glowing antennae lit the surroundings by a considering amount before fading again. ‘Right. Her powers. ’ Mantis’ eyes were wide in fear, her mouth still hanging open before she shook it away, bringing back her senses. “He will not be asleep for long. We must go.” Her hand stretched open and he took it. 

Pride was not an issue right now. 

Still shaking, Rocket climbed up her arm and sat on her shoulder as she sped past the alleyways, around the corners that Rocket had failed to identify when he was still drunk. If he weren’t in his drunken state, Rocket would’ve been able to get back to the Benatar alone. 

In minutes, Mantis had gotten the both of them back, where Gamora was already brewing an argument. The moment Rocket and Mantis entered the Benatar, Gamora was already stomping her way across the room, her eyes cold and squinting. Rocket sighed as he hopped off Mantis, already knowing what was coming his way. 

Gamora put her hands on her hips as she approached the guilty creature, staring at the floor. Like a mother scolding a child. 

“What was the one thing Peter told you not to do? Hmm?” 

Rocket sighed. “Leave the ship.” 

Gamora laughed humorlessly, nodding. “Yes. And what did you do, Rocket?”

“Leave the ship.” 

“THAT’S NOT ALL. Not only did you leave the ship, you also did the next worse thing you could do, and that was go to a bar and get yourself drunk enough to get in trouble on a planet we barely know well enough. What do you think would’ve happened if you got lost?! We don’t have any trackers on you Rocket, and this planet is big enough. What if you got in trouble?!” Gamora ranted. 

"He did get in trouble,” Mantis pointed out. Rocket groaned. Of course Mantis had to be way too honest and get himself in more trouble. Typical. 

“He what?” Gamora asked in a terrifyingly deadpan tone. 

“He got hurt by a—”

Before Mantis could finish, Gamora immediately knelt down to Rocket’s level. Rocket prepared himself for Gamora grabbing the scruff of his neck or slapping him in the face, but instead, she simply started checking his body for wounds. 

Anger was replaced with worry as she saw the scars and wounds scratched all over him. “What did they do to you,” Gamora asked, worry turning back to anger as she stood up. “Who are they and where are they now?” 

"He’s still back there in that alley where I got hurt. I’m fine. It’s fine, ‘Mora. I’ll be okay.” Rocket shuffled his feet, still staring at his paws. 

Gamora sighed, kneeling down once more, pulling him into a hug. “If there’s anything you want to talk about, you can always talk to me, alright? Quill gets annoying sometimes, ranting about those Terran celebrities he loves so much.”

Rocket chuckled, though he felt a void inside him. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone right about now.

“Thanks Gams,” Rocket said as he pulled away from the hug, “but I’m good for now.” 

“Wait, Rocket, you’re still—” Cutting her off midsentence, he left the room, trying to avoid as much interaction as possible. But of course, Drax had to be waiting at the hall, blocking his entrance to his room. 

“Gamora is right,” Drax said gruffly. 

“Why did you send Mantis? More importantly, why didn’t you go with her?” 

“She can handle it. She is not as weak as she appears. She may be hideous, but that is what scares away her opponents. You, on the other hand. You are weaker than you look. Then again, you do not look very strong. You are short, skinny and wimpy, and—” 

Rocket groaned, rolling his eyes. “Get out of the way, for flarks sake.” 

Drax frowned, but obeyed none the less and Rocket got back to his cluttered bedroom. As soon as he locked the door, Rocket immediately burst into tears. If only Groot were still alive. Well, he was, but it wasn’t the best friend Rocket had loved. 

Groot was now just an angry teenager, a boy not knowing of his past. Rocket loved Groot either way, sure, but back then, he had Groot watching his back, being his partner, sharing a room, just being there for him when Rocket had a bad nightmare of the things certain people had done to him. Groot always knew what to do. He hadn’t appreciated it then. 

Now he had to take care of Groot instead. He guessed it was only fair, but sometimes he still wished he had the big guy looking over him. 

“It’s just not the same without you, pal,” Rocket sighed, tears still dripping down his snout. 

Just then, a series of knocks came from the metallic door Rocket was leaning against. “It’s me, Mantis. Can I come in?” Rocket immediately wiped his tears away, trying to hide any sign of him crying as he immediately jumped onto his bed, pretending to build something as he croaked, “Yeah, sure.” 

Mantis slid the door open, her eyes still full of worry. “Puppy? Are you alright?” Rocket gave a nonchalant shrug, pretending to be fine. 

“Yeah, why?” 

Mantis frowned. 

“You’re still bleeding. Gamora was about to offer to help you when you left the room.”

Oh right. He'd forgotten about that. His eyes flicked down at the bruises he got from the fight. The scars started stinging again the moment Rocket drew his attention back to them. 

“I can help with them, if you’d like. I can make the pain go away for a while, or if you want, I can share it with you.” She offered, rubbing her arm. 

He scoffed, immediately twisting his head away. He had to laugh. Now she was just being naïve and stupid. Why would anyone suggest to share pain with someone willingly? The incident with Ronan was different. The lives of the people around them, including their own, were depending on sharing the pain between each other. 

That was another situation. 

But now it was just the two of them, and Rocket had been living with pain his entire life. He could take it. 

"No thanks, princess. I can take care of myself.” 

Another frown. “Can you? Gamora has told me you haven’t showered in weeks, and I can hear the sound of you building your weapons at night. You should have been sleeping.” It was Rocket’s time to frown now. She could hear him building? 

“And,” Mantis paused, speaking cautiously, not wanting him to be mad at her. “I heard you crying. It is not healthy to—” 

“Yeah, I know that,” Rocket snapped. “But why would you, out of everyone on this ship, offer to help me? Out of all people? I’ve been fine on my own for gods knows how many years—I’ll be fine now. So you can just leave me alone.” Her antennae drooped slightly at this and he suddenly felt a pang of regret swelling in his chest. 

“I want to help you, because you are my friend. We are family. Family leaves nobody behind. That’s what Drax said. And I believe that,” she admitted, suddenly interested in her shoes. “It is not healthy to keep pain all to ourselves, and not just physical pain. I have heard what the man threatening you said.” 

His ears fell flat.

“Remarks about who you are, and what you are. And I think that was very cruel of him. People have no right to say things like that.”

“But what if he’s right? I don’t even know where I came from, where and who my parents are, what I am. All I know is that they made me into something I don’t wanna see. They made me, and that’s all I’ll ever be—” 

"You are not your creators.” Mantis snapped, surprisingly sounding angry for once. “I am not the choices Ego has made. He has made bad choices over and over again. He brings children to nurture for, and the children always die. I have done nothing for them over the years because I believed there was nothing I could do. Until I met Drax, and all of you. I have never felt love until I met you all. 

All along I had thought I meant something to Ego, but I was wrong. I was merely an insect to be pushed around. But I met you all, and now, I have a family. I have fallen for his tricks over and over again. I will not let you do the same for your creators.” 

Rocket stared at the floor for a while before glancing up at the girl, and nodded. 

“Thanks, Bug-eyes.”

“You are welcome, small puppy.” 

Mantis approached his bed and sat next to him. Moments of comfortable silence passed until she broke it. “So, do you want me to help you with your scars?” Mantis looked down at Rocket, hope in her eyes. 

He smiled. 

Mantis sure as hell wasn’t replacing Groot, but maybe she’d be another friend after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come on, I had to make a fic for my three favourite Guardians. Did you like it? If you did, please leave reviews! I'm not really good at writing fight scenes (as you can probably tell), so if 'yall have any advice, let me know. Please don't repost. Thank you for reading!


End file.
